Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 24
An astounding amount of monetary fraud allegedly committed by several departments of the Nagaland State Government has been revealed by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). It has further expressed shock that the government’s response to the report’s findings has been “obnoxious” to the extent of “encouraging offence.”
In its report for the year ending March 2015, the CAG reported that Drawing and Disbursing Officers (DDOs) attached to several government offices are suspected to have been involved in “fraudulent drawals” of Rs 2.81 Crores. And this is the result of the CAG auditing vouchers of only 41 DDOs, which witnessed 51 cases of irregularities such as inflated totals, fraudulent and excess drawals.
Similar cases from those not selected for the test cannot be ruled out, the CAG stated. DDOs are officials of all government offices who are authorised to draw money from the state exchequer and to disburse such money.
Specific Cases
Highlighting specific cases, the CAG informed that the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Peren, while furnishing replies in August 2015, said Rs 3.39 lakh was drawn to meet salary expenditure of Dhais and staff nurses of the establishment and furnished new set of documents in support of the claim. It however stated that reply was not acceptable as “no such staff were in the pay roll of the establishment.”
Another such case involved the District Education Officer, Kohima, who in August 2015 stated that excess drawal of pay and allowances amounting to Rs 22,441 pertained to three newly appointed RMSA teachers. However the CAG said this reply is “inadmissible as the same employees were already paid for the particular month.” “The department also furnished copies of pay bills regarding drawal of Rs 14,912 by INSERT IGNOREing additional names of employees to suit the inflated amount. However, there were no such employees. Hence Rs 37,252 still remained outstanding for recovery against the DEO Kohima,” the CAG stated.
Meanwhile, the CAG alleged that the Directorate of Treasuries and Accounts was also responsible for “double drawal” of Rs 18.05 lakhs for computer hardware and peripherals. This was done by “duplicating” bill vouchers already drawn, it stated.
The CAG also highlighted the case of Rs 2.54 Crores “fictitiously drawn” by the Sub Divisional Education Officer (SDEO) Zunheboto on behalf of “pseudo anonymous employees” during 2010-14. Records from March 2014 of the SDEO revealed that in addition to the regular monthly bills for pay and allowances, an amount of Rs 2.54 crore was drawn in 23 bills for different categories of teaching staff at pay and allowances, without routing the same through the bill registers maintained by the establishment during 2010-14.
The CAG noticed that the 23 bills were not recorded in any of the 28 bill registers, though the bills were presented to the Treasury through the Treasury Transit Register and was passed by the Treasury Officer for payment. This was subsequently accounted for in the cash book.
The SDEO could not furnish records such as pay bills and acquittance roll relating to payment of the Rs 2.54 Crores. The CAG hence concluded that the amount was withdrawn “fraudulently” by the establishment and needs further investigation. This specific case was reported to the Department concerned and the Government in June/December 2015 and in July 2015. However, the CAG did not receive any reply till January 2016.
Discrepancies in recovery
In reply to the audit, 27 DDOs reported recovery of Rs 91.34 lakhs. However the CAG said that in some cases proof of recovery has not been produced.
One case mentioned by the CAG involved the General Manager (GM) of the District Industries Centre Zunheboto, who in his reply in September 2015 stated that only Rs 5.34 lakh was recoverable and not Rs 8.65 lakh. The GM claimed that the same had been recovered as of July 2015. “However documentary evidence in support of the GM’s claim of recoverable amount and the amount recovered has not been furnished. Thus Rs 8.65 lakh still needs to be recovered,” the CAG informed.
Another case involved the Director of IPR, who replied that Rs 0.11 lakhs was recovered in August 2015. “However actual excess drawal was Rs 2.79 lakh and remaining Rs 2.68 lakh still needs to be recovered,” the CAG said.
The CAG observed that DDOs and Treasury Officers in the state have failed to exercise internal controls and non adherence to prescribed rules and procedures.
In October 2015, the Principal Secretary of the Finance Department allegedly “accepted” the existence of excess and fraudulent payments and stated that it is a matter of concern to the State Government. “However the government was silent on initiating administrative action against the offenders,” the CAG lamented.
Nagaland Govt’s response ‘obnoxious’
While the Nagaland State Government has accepted the “facts” discovered by the report, the CAG expressed concern at the government’s response to specific cases.
It referred to a case involving the Department of Planning and Coordination and the Nagaland Civil Secretariat. It alleged that the departments “fraudulently drew” Rs 9.40 lakhs by presenting “duplicate” hotel bills in connection to the visit of the 14th Finance Commission (FC).
Three departments had drawn the same bill for the visit of the same visiting FC officials. The Directorate of Treasuries and Accounts on October 3, 2013, drew Rs 34,75,000; while the Nagaland Civil Secretariat drew Rs 39,48,000 and Department of Planning and Coordination drew Rs 20,00,000 on November 17, 2013.
After crosschecking of withdrawals, the CAG concluded that the withdrawal made by the two latter departments were “duplications,” resulting in a “fraudulent” drawal of Rs 9.40 lakhs.
While accepting the facts, the government on August 2015 allegedly stated that there were some “unforeseen expenditure” such as “cultural, musical and social programmes for which payments were made to outsourced cultural troupes and musicians along with other entertainment bills.” It reasoned that to adjust these expenditures due to “time factor,” the same bills were produced and drawn.
The CAG termed the government’s response as “obnoxious.” It said that instead of discouraging such “blatant malpractice,” the government is trying to “legitimize/cover-up the matter and even going to the extent of encouraging offence.” It recommended that an independent investigation be initiated to bring the offenders to the book.
